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AN ORATION 



DELIVERED BY 



Hon. Beniamiii Af Willis, 



/VIeMBER of PONGRESS IITH piSTRICT N Y 



ON THE OCCASION OF THE 



Ceoteonial Celebfalion of llmaficao lodepenilence 



Turner's Station, Orange Co., N. Y., 



•J "• • •> 



JULY 4, 1876. 




I^ TJ S Xj I S H E ID B -^ 12, E Q, XJ IC; S T 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

Chronicle Publishing Company Print, 

1876. 



K; 



AN OR ATIO N 



DELIVERED BT 



HON. BENJAMIN A. WILLIS. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen : 

Notwithstanding the pressure of public duty and the 
demands of private business, long neglected, I was unable 
to decline your cordial invitation to honorably partici- 
pate in this day's services, commeiiiorative of the birth of 
our Republic ; aye, further, of the heroes wdiose self- 
sacrificing, courageous achievements have rendered impo- 
tent the assaults of armed trcast)n. 1 deem it an honor 
peculiarly to be appreciated- in this Centennial year, when 
these ceremonies are about being renewed for the one hun- 
dreth time, in refutation of the unfriendly boast indulged 
in by foes to the democratic system, "that a government 
of the people is impracticable and cannot permanently en 
dure." 

The labors we have this day assigned ourselves are 
sanctioned alike by patriotism and religion. Everybody 
who exults over the birth of the nation and liails with 
joy its rescue from the hideous jaws of treason ; everybody 
who believes that fidelity to the Union under all circum- 
stances, let what will betide, is a virtue ; everj- body who 
deems an obligation to the flag paramount to the obliga- 
tion of partisanship ; everybody who in his devotion to 
his country buries all hatreds, prejudices, and the yearn- 
ings ot selfishness is thrice welcome here to-day. But to 



him who believes that all loyalty,all patriotism, all virtue 
centers in his particular organization, that his political 
tenets are inMlibly sound, that all who differ with him 
in opinion and belief are foes to the Republic — he who is 
putled up with self-conceit and self-sufficiency and in- 
trenches himself, as a pharisee, behind the barriers of 
party, we say, "Approach not! Keep hence!" 

We are a brotherhood of patriots! We despise dema- 
gogism ! We loathe politicians who, for a paltry subsis- 
tence or the advantage of official position, sport with the 
rights aiid liberties of the people as though they were 
merchandise, and make patriotism secondary to party. 

THE OCCASION OF OUR REJOICING. 

We are here to do that only which belongs to the occa- 
sion, which accords with the sentiment o± purest loyalty 
— to say that only which pertains especially to the na- 
tion's birth, history, and triumphs. Why do we rejoice 
because of our nation's birth ? Why are we exultant that it 
yet lives, and is destined to live tbrough the ages? !N"ot 
because of a simple birth of a nation, not because of its 
glorious heraldry at Independence Hall on a day just 
one hundred years ago, not because of the valor, the 
sacrifice, the unyielding spirit which found expression in 
heroic achievement and culminated in a grand triumph 
over a monarchy whichj in that day, was the most form- 
idable on earth ; not because of the civic virtues of its 
sons, their unparalleled prosperity, their later supreme 
struggle with a rebellion, unapproached in magnitude, in 
determined purpose, which struggle did not cease until 
every traitor in the land bowed as a suppliant and plead 
for mercy at the shrine of our insulted nationalitv ; not 
because of these glories, achievements, and episodes, so 



brilliant, so commanding, so grand, are wo bore celebrat- 
ing tbis Anniversary Day. 

Otber nations bave been born witb more of pageantry 
and pomp — sanctified by devotion no less earnest, by suf- 
ferings no less intense. Other nations bave rejoiced in a 
growth no less marvelous, in struggles no less fierce, in 
victories no less renowned. Other nations, indeed, have 
mourned over defenders no less heroic than ours. Yet no 
otber people bave a national birthday to celebrate ; no 
other people do homage, as we do, to the memory of our 
benefactors martyred in bloody strife. Why is this? 
Because, not in the deep, black, mysterious past, not 
through all the ages does the [)riestess of history point to 
that other nation, founded upon a complete and perfect 
recognition of the only legitimate purpose of human gov- 
ernment. Republics there bave been in name — Democ- 
racies, so-called, bave also had shor,t being, at long inter- 
vals, in the world's history. But be not captivated by 
names, these serve only as decoys to mislead the superfi- 
cial and unthinking: they were wanting in the essence of 
republicanism and democracy ; were characterized simply 
by vigorous rulership of ambitious demagogues, who, by 
the exercise of political arts and contrivances, held an 
ignorant people in subordination to their purposes, and 
betrayed them into the insane belief that they were in full 
possession of liberty. 

THE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT. 

What is tbis purpose of government, then? On 
what political propositions is it based ? It is 
tbis: no government is of binding force or authority 
unless emanating from the people and created by their 
will. Liberty to every individual to exercise all bis or 
her faculties, and enjoy the fruit of such exercise is an ab- 



solute right, intemlodby God to secure happiness to every 
living creature, and to assure the highest possible moral 
development — such right to be exercised and enjoyed as 
to trench upon no other one's rights. The purpose, then, 
of government is brieflj^ this: to secure equal enjoyment 
of this absolute right to exercise one's faculties, and enjoy 
their fruit ; to effc-t this purpose by the enforcement of 
certain restraints and conditions and burdens which shall 
operate equally on all, be borne equally by all, and 
equally benefit all. Any government which does 
not contemplate this purpose, and is not administered in 
this spirit of perfect equality, is unrepublican, undemo- 
cratic, and a usurpation which cannot be borne without 
humiliation and disgrace, j Our government does contem- 
plate this purpose, and has very generall}^ been adminis- 
tered in harmony with this spirit. Such principle was 
distinctly enunciated in our sublime chart of political wis- 
dom — the Declaration of Independence. It was fortified 
by Constitutional provision in the organic law of the 
nation. It was announced and vindicated by all of our 
earlier statesmen. Yet it has been very frequently 
departed from, very frequently ignored, and sometimes 
openly, flagrantly assailed — though, happily, the great 
heart of the nation has alwa3's responded to it ; the con- 
sience of the nation has been in accord with it, and though 
overridden from time to time in measures of finances and 
taxation, in local and special legislation, in the toleration 
of a system of serfdom for about ninety years, this pur- 
pose i.'S still recognized bj^ all thoughtful men, and hailed 
as the only salvation of our Republic — the only assurance 
that our nation is a republic in reality, as also in name. 

To witness the departures from its purpose, drifting 
here and there from its spirit, should excite no alarm, and 
serve only to provoke a watchful care. We do so much 



better than any of our predecessors have done, we are so 
much beyond all competitors toward the goal of an 
exalted civilization, to the plane of just and enlightened 
government, that we have reason for encouragement and 
honest hope. We can expect to find no nearer approach 
to perfection in goverimient than in the average individ- 
ual ; for a government of the people, when most favorably 
administered, reflects only the average moral sense — rare- 
ly loftier in tone, very frequently otherwise. 

OUR RESPONSIBILITIES. 

Anengineer who drives the locomotive through ravines, 
along the banks of winding rivers, up meuntain steeps, 
down the valley slopes, witli speed almost of birds in their 
flight, must needs understand the exact grade of the road 
on which it is driven, the measure of pressure to be ap- 
plied to it, the time required to check its headlong speed, 
the relation that one part bears to another, its whole me- 
chanical anatomy and force. Without this knowledge he 
would be an impostor. But not simply is knowledge re- 
quired — inclination, also, and intense vigilance are requi- 
site; his eye must be ever peering for obstacles ahead ; his 
ear ever alert for any sound which means danger ; all his 
senses, brain, everything on active duty; even then too 
off en, alas! comes a plunge into ruin, tlie train a shattered 
wreck, the earth a golgotha of the slain, a pandemonium 
of heaving groans and shrieks. 

Our Republic is a monstrous power, whose machinery is 
more complicated than that of the locomotive, and we are 
being whirled along in the pathway of destinj' — up 
heights, down steep slopes, along winding banks, dangers 
ahead and on every side. We, the people, are the engineers 
and conductors; the same high duties and scrupulous ob- 
servance, the same vigilance and foresight which I have 



indicated arc exacted from us. Wanting in these require- 
ments, we exhil)it ourselves to the world as betrayers of a 
confidence solemnly I'eposed, as a people who have bar- 
tered awa}', for the luxury of ease and greed, the sablimist 
destiny ever vouchsafed to man — we invite, and well 
merit, the scoifs and jeers and execrations of mankind. 
In this view, then, it behooves us, as foremost of all else, 
to acquaint ourselves not only with the spirit of our Gov- 
ernment, but also with those conditions and limitations 
which must be observed to insure its just and equal oper- 
ation. Having accomplished this, what remains is easy, 
for he who thoroughly understands these will be irresisti- 
bly controlled by and enchanted with their intrinsic ex- 
cellence, logical correctness, and thorough adaptation to 
the most perfect happiness and development attainable; 
so that inclination to do our duty will surely come after 
we acquire a knowledge of what that duty is. 

JUSTIFICATION OF GOVERNMENT. 

Government, even the most lenient, can only be justi- 
fied by the sternest and most solemn necessity; it implies 
force, there is an energy to be exerted, somebody to act, 
somebody to be acted upon. What, then, .is that necessity 
which government is required to answer? The law of 
equal and exact justice, what political thinkers term the 
law of equal freedom, which proceeds from God, is of 
God, and, therefore, has always been the original, prime 
principle by which mankind were and are to abide — a 
principle and operation of which every human creature 
should avail himself, and be alike benefited by, existing 
before all society and government, but which, unhappily, 
is and alwaj^s has been, as the experience of the ages pro- 
claims, invaded and ignored. Abuses of humanity have, 
from the time whereof tradition i"eaches not, been frequent 



— the weak have been preyed u[)ot] by the sti-oiig — the 
apathetic, the unthinking victimized by the ambitious and 
designing — the honest depredated upon by the dishonest 
— so that this grand principle of equality has been over- 
ridden, and society, in its peril, has taken refuge, by a 
deputation of its power, into government that is a combi- 
nation formed to secure the operation of such principle. 
Soyousee the principle of equality comes firstly; that prin- 
ciple trampled on by mankind secondl}'; and government 
to vindicate that principle and enforce it thirdly. You 
now have tlie end aimed at, equality ; the necessity sub- 
served, equality imperiled; the nature of the government, 
an agency constituted by the people, drawing its life from 
their will, subject to limitations and conditions expressed 
in the fundamental law known as the Constitution to assure 
it. Government is not an eleemosynary institution for the 
dispensation of charities or the establishment of religious 
and collegiate institutions. It is not a moral regulator 
whose office it is to teach what is right or wrong — what 
you shall say or leave unsaid ; what you shall eat or drink 
or wear. Nor is it an organization whose function it is 
to create and carry on grand enterprises, commercial or 
manufacturing. The moment it crosses the threshold of 
either of these spheres it trenches on the very law of 
equality it is designed to enforce ; its purpose is prostitu- 
ted, it betrays its mission, invades the domain of human 
activity and becomes a monstrous usurpation. Here is 
where republicanism and monarchy divides — where dem- 
ocratic principles combat pretension. 

INFALLIBILITY OF GOVERNMENT A HERESY. 

There is one class of men who firmly believe in the in- 
fallibility of human government — that when it decrees a 
thing to be moral or right, that it is moral or right. There 



10 

is another class of men who deem the government a kind- 
hearted, fostering parent, who, at their bidding, will heal 
every infirmity, administer to every want and give relief 
to every distress. There is yet another class who believe 
that the government should do that which will inure to 
the public advantage. ''The greatest good for the greatest 
number," they exclaim, l(\)king as though they had in- 
herited the wisdom of at least a score of Solomons, not 
mindful that as to what will inure to the advantage of the 
public, or secure the greatest good to the greatest number, 
is a question concerning which no two persons of inde- 
pendent thought will coincide in opinion. 

Listen to these classes of people — let the government 
be administered pursuant to their theories, its functions 
would be multiplied indefinitely, its policy would be no 
less variable than the seasons. Our statute-books would 
rival the exhumed volumes of the laws passed under the 
reign of the old English Kings. We would have statutes 
prescribing what kind of hnts we should wear, what style 
of carriages w^e should ride in, tliat we should eat buck- 
wheat cakes in October and forego the indulgence of drink- 
ing tea or coffee in July. Laws no less absurd than these 
have been enacted in Germany, in Denmark, in France, in 
Russia, and even in our own land. All can be justified 
by the plea that they are demanded by the public welfare. 
The moment you overstep the landmarks indicated, the 
moment the only proper purpose of government, the only 
legitimate function is subordinated, and government pur- 
sues other purposes, and exercises other functions, you are 
in chaos, metes and bounds disappear, feebleness in opera- 
tio!i succeeds. Caprice wears the crown. Ruin exults, Re- 
publicanism dies! 

Government supplies a need, which need results from 
man's depravity. His disinclination to obey tlie moral 



11 

law renders necessary the restraint of man's law— the 
measure of restraint, the extent of government, depends 
upon the measure of such need, the extent of such de- 
pravity. In profound barbarism the monarch sways as a 
God. When light glimmers, veneration lessens, the god 
dwindles into a man. Then more light, fewer shackles, 
and so on from one gradation to another. People move 
along, until finally, after passing through absolute and 
limited monarchy, they attain to such intellectual capac- 
ity and moral excellence that they themselves assume sov- 
ereignty and create a republic. 

Such is the history of government. Its progress is 
readily solved by prompt recognition of conditions and 
principles. Therefore should we be warned at every as- 
sumption of power, at every governmental excess, for 
either bespeaks danger, and reveals a backward tendency. 
It is barbarism asserting itself. God, when he created us 
in his image, and endowed us with faculties, never in- 
tended that they should be cramped by a machine called 
p-overnment, distorted, prostituted, or so pampered that 
they are incapable of subserving a purpose. If he 
had such intention he himself would have imposed re- 
straints. He left us free to exercise and develop them. 
But men find fault with the conditions of Omnipotence. 
They have an idea that they have invented a superior 
system, and they call it statesmanship. 

The result is, the providential design is baulked, Man, 
instead of attaining happiness through the exercise and 
development of his faculties, is dwarfed by inaction. He 
depends upon the state, or is its slave, sometimes one, 
sometimes another, in any event made miserable, his 
manhood compromised, and his growth checked. It has 
been exemplified by every age of the past that to secure 
man's highest moral and mental elevation society is neces- 



12 

sary. To keep society intact, then, is the office of govern- 
ment. Any need beyond this the genius and energy ot 
man will compass. Whether in building telegraph lines, 
steamships, or public edifices, individual enterprise is 
always more efficient, more economical than government 
agency. 

IDENTITY OF INTERESTS AND CLASSES. 

The interests of all classes of people are identical ; any 
distinctive interest is artificial ; any division line between 
classes is artificial. In nature there are no barriers ; there 
is a principle of harmony in the operations of mankind 
just as assuredly as there is in the material universe. 
That principle governments have always assailed in so far 
iis they could. Hapitily the planets are beyond their 
reach, for there can be no doubt that were it possible, wise 
and sagacious statesmanship, exulting in its enlarged field, 
would at once proceed to change the order of the seasons 
— to multiply or diminish the hours of light and darkness, 
to have rain when it is now sunshine; the whole order of 
things would be reversed, and, of course, thunder and 
lightning, hurricanes and earthquakes would be forthwith 
abolished. And why ? Oh ! the public good demands it ! 
It is the voice of common justice, of expediency, and it 
must be done! Do you doubt this? Alas ! then you do 
not understand this class of people, these wise, long- 
headed statesmen who believe in a liberal exercise of 
governmental power, who croak about the demands of 
expediency, morality, and the public good. They recog- 
nize no limitation to governmental power save the limit 
of their capacity. 

RESULT OF MULTIPLYING GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTIONS. 

What is the fruit? We have a taste. Special legisla- 
tion, which has cursed the nation with monopolies, made 



13 

auction-houses of our legislative halls, brought democracy 
ill disrepute, begat log-rolling, which means combination 
between varied interests of men sent as special representa- 
tives of these varied interests, corrupt bargains, by the 
terms of which, for the benefit of these varied interests, 
the nation at large is forced to paj' tribute — the few en- 
riched, the many impoverished — the nation divided into 
classes, prejudices excited and appealed to, the equilibrium 
of society destroyed, unnatural distinctions between labor 
and capital created, seeds of hatred sown between them, 
and a warfare resulting in disturbance to trade with con- 
sequent sufifering to all, instituted. If capitalists combine 
laboring men will combine likewise, organization on one 
side occasions organization on the other. The struggle is 
uncalled for, unnatural, grows out of demagogism and 
the exercise of a function by the government which does 
not belong to it, which is special legislation. The same 
princi[)le which governs the price of material should and 
hitherto has governed the price of labor. Government 
has no business to meddle with the prices of either. When 
it does, it is a usurpation and becomes a source of infinite 
mischief, never reaching the end aimed at, for it combats 
a principle which eventually asserts its supremacy, and 
during the pendency of the struggle loss accrues to every- 
body. 

But more unfortunate still are the experiences of to- 
day growing out of a wanton disregard of national obli- 
tions and the misdirection of governmental functions. 
Labor idle and starving ; capital timid and unremuner- 
ative ; industry weighed down with oppressive taxation; 
sumptuary laws enforced ; want well-nigh universal ; gov- 
ernmental credit, at a shameful discount; the future dark 
and uncertain, are some of our present griefs ; the heri- 
tage of false pDlitical theories, of an artificial prosperity, 



14 

which has exiled from American homes the j urity and 
simplicity of our earlier history, so that our wives and 
daughters have fairly rivaled the famed Calypso, whose 
vices, were it not for the vigilant mentor, would have quite 
vanquished the valiant Telemachus, while our young men 
have surpassed even Oriental votaries, in their devotion to 
Terpsichore and Bacchus. 

to-day's duty. 

The duty of the hour is to fearlessly recognize our peril, 
"^^e must hegin by being honest. First make the prom- 
ise of the Government to pay a dollar equal to a dollar, 
thereby restoring national credit, giving to capital confi- 
dence and consequent circulatory power. The currency 
issued by the Government, a forced loan, exacted from 
the people, should be redeemed ; to pay them in coin is 
what the law requires. This cannot be done. In lieu 
thereof let the Government do what an honest merchant 
would do — give the holder of the Government note a bond, 
say -i per cent., payable in forty years, which in the 
world's market to-day would be worth its face value in gold ; 
would have the same purchasing power as so much gold. 
This done our credit would reach par, and the element of un- 
certainty give place to stability, capital seek employment, 
labor find ready demand, and the black midnight of woe 
give place to a bright morning of hope. Let the Govern- 
ment surrender its functions as banker, make banking 
frise, so that any one can engage in it at will, subject to 
such conditions as will insure uniformitj^ and absolute se- 
curity to the bill-holder — the old New York system na- 
tionalized and improved upon — leaving amount of circu- 
lation to the law of supply and demand. This is the con- 
dition precedent to any real revival of prosperity. We 
must likewise retrench, cut down salaries, stop all leaks. 



15 

reduce taxation. Labor must once more be ennobled. 
The idea of procuring wealth without effort, without giv- 
ino- in energy value received must be abandoned and for- 
gotten. The system of taxation must be simplified, and 
such laws as stimulate special industries, cause overpro- 
duction, prevent the rehabilitation of commerce must be 
repealed; must, I add, in this Centennial year, when 
unity and brotherhood are supposed to be accomplished 
and a whole nation is exultant, that no factions divide it, no 
animosities disturb its repose, that we must force out of 
memory our former strifes. 

"The brave forget in peace the injuries received in war." 

We must have no heart-burnings — in a spirit of Chris- 
tian love, we must erect to , 

FORGIVENESS 

a monument, whose lofty height will reach unto Heaven 
itself. 

There can be no variance between North and South, 
East and West ; for all their hopes, their ambitions, their 
memories — save the chapter of fierce rebellion — are com 
mon to each. And even this exceptional experience of 
fratricidal strife, while we mourn the mutual slaughter it 
provoked, was a conflict between opposing social and 
political forces, resulting, in the Providence of God, in 
suchwise that a people was released from serfdom and 
endowed with the honors and glories of citizenship, while 
a Republic, recognizing the law of equal justice, was made 
perpetual. 

Such conflict should serve not to engender strife, but to 
attest [N'orthern and Southern manhood. The results of 
such conflict are not only acquiesced in, but fortified by 
Constitutional amendment. 



16 

• 

Let the wounds of war be healed ; let the turf which 
covers the graves of heroes North, and heroes South, be 
watered by pious tears. Let him be spurned as a godless 
foe to the Republic whose word shall serve to awaken or 
revive the hates of war. As a soldier, I deem this an easy 
task. 

The questions of to-day must not be shrunk from. He 
is the truest patriot, the noblest soldier, who, instead of 
boasting deeds of prowess then, performs his duty now. 
Who, instead of boasting Gettysburg and A^icksburg, 
prides himself upon resisting extravagance and corruption 
which to-day assail his country. 

Let the heroes of armed conflict behold in the battle of 
to-day fresh opportunity for glory. In this wise we will 
prove ourselves fit custodians of a nation's honor, fully 
equal to the responsibilities which attach to citizenship 
in a free country. In this wise we will give ample proof 
to mankind that our Centennial glory, like the cross of 
Charlemagne, while embhxzoned upon the cloudless sky, is 
dimmed by no shadow. 

SAME PRINCIPLE APPLIES TO NATIONAL, STATE, AND MUNICIPAL 
GOVERNMENTS. 

What is true of the National Government is true of 
the State and municipal governments, the only diiference 
being that, though the function is the S9,rae, each exercises 
that function in a distinct sphere. 

• 

CHECKS AND BALANCES. 

There is no suliordination, no interference, each has 
duties pertaining to the same function, but peculiar to it- 
self. Any invasion of either ought to be resented, for it 
assaults the harmony of the system and threatens danger 
to all. To secure the peifect operation of this govern- 



17 

mental function our government is based upon a sj&tem 
of checks and balances — the Legislative, the Judicial, the 
Executive — each separate and distinct, and yet a conflict 
impossible. Each is absolute in its province in so far as 
its prescribed duties are concerned^ These tliroe depart- 
ments are so many supports, standing like huge columns. 
!So they are all -erect they can bear any pressure ; but 
undermine either, let either be weakened, bent, or get dis- 
placed, and that which leaned equally on three, in the 
nature of things, is disturbed; its equilibrium is gone, the 
balance destroyed. The man who undermines either ot 
these supports, who assails this nicely-adjusted balance, 
who attempts to enlarge the power of one department at 
the expense ot another department is a more formidable 
foe to the life of the Republic than he who emblazons on 
his brow Disunion. As despicable as that watchword, as 
bitterly as I deprecate its sound, a thousand times rather 
would I encounter an open f )e than a stealthy one who 
hurls the[>oisoned dagger while wearing the mask of a 
friend. Disunion means a divided nation si.iiply. The 
departments of government merged and the balance de- 
stro3'ed means a dead Republic. 

MAJORITY NOT TO BE FEAUED. 

Fellow citizens, there are those who fear the aggres- 
sions of the majority. Theory of corruption is abroad 
in the land, robbery and theft are in every department of 
the government, the most profligate and depraved are 
elevated to official position, and then they turn with out- 
stretched arms and pleading eyes to the government for 
succor. Unthinking men ! They complain of one gov- 
ernment, and flee to another for refuge. They say, give 
us some remedy — anything for a change. They know not 
what they want, for they have no tixed principle. Well, 



18 

some doctor comes along — a political doctor — a modern 
Solon. He has no hesitation in saying that he has a cure 
sovereign for every ill. All is attention! The would-be 
wise men cry, "All hail 1 Give heed ! My party will 
afford the relief ! " Let a whisper of dissent be heard, 
and, oh! what howls! what fierce denunciation! The 
dissenter is a thief, his character is excoriated, and be 
is doomed to a moral pillory forthwith and to a hell 
hereafter. 

THE REMEDY. 

These fools, these partisan bigots, human hounds, as in- 
sensate as the brute kind, have just as slight a comprehen- 
sion of what the exigency demands as they have love and 
charity for their fellows. All the peril, all the incon- 
venience, all the evil, comes from a disregard of those 
limitations and restraints upon government which are 
found in our written law, and a general acquiescence in 
such disregard. Resorts to arbitrary measures, when the 
nation was bleedins; and tossino; and writhins; in a life and 
death struggle, was justifiable by virtue of that law of 
self-preservation which has no limitation. Such resorts 
became customary. The people grew used to them, hailed 
them as familiar processes, trusting that when war ceased, 
they too would cease ; but these processes yielded patron- 
age and power to those who indulged in them. The peo- 
ple on the one hand, not long since absorbed in the grand 
problems solved by the war, were lulled by quiet peace 
into a sleep of indifference and apathy, overlooked them, 
while, on the Other hand, they who exercised them began 
to assert them as prerogatives. The result is natural ; 
such a noxious plant must, in obedience to its nature, 
yield a poisonous, deadly fruit. Better than proportional 
representation, better than cumulative plans of voting, is 
a strict construction of the fundamental law, keeping the 



19 

government within its appropriate sphere, saying to your 
rulers, " Regard your oaths, step not one foot beyond the 
line of constitutional limit or you will lind death.'' This 
will be the only restraint upon the majority that is need- 
ful, all the incentives to corruption would vanish, the 
elements of jobbery would be gone. With special and 
class legislation all the ills we suffer from in the political 
world would vanish, stability succeed to uncertainty, and 
veneration for law becomes as conspicuous as contempt for 
it now is painful. 

Ladies and gentlemen, what has been said has reference 
to the nature of government, especially our government. 
They are views suggested by reflection and study. 
Nothing has been urged for partisan purposes. We difl'er 
not regarding the nature of government nor as to prin- 
ciples which should govern its administration, but as to 
the application of those principles only. Our ground of 
difference is to-day forbidden ground. We stand where 
it is too hallowed for partisanship to tread. We alike 
rejoice in the principle of equal freedom, of exact justice, 
upon the recognition of which I insist. We alike rejoice 
that a Union which means justice, whose flag repre- 
sents liberty, truth, and civilization, has been spared, 
and are alike grateful to that Supreme Intelligence, who, 
through doubts, misgivings, fears, through disaster and 
triumph, through storm and sunshine, pointed the way to 
victory, and gave us a happy issue out of our afflictions. 
Let us, then, gathered here to-day under a sanction so 
solemn and commanding, seriously determine what the 
hour demands of us, what obligations our relationship to 
the Government imposes. 

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT REPRESENTS. 

Our Government is predicated on the average moral sense 
of the people. The people are the sovereigns — the source 



20 

of all power and authority. They are responsible for their 
rulers, who are supposed to reflect the intelligence and 
moral sense of the people. If rulers exhibit a just regard 
for justice and liberty, a sagacity in the conduct of public 
affairs, a disinterested purpose to serve intelligently the 
popular weal, all is well 1 The world says self-government 
is vindicated, the experiment is successful, humanity is 
exultant. If rulers are wanting in virtue, in intelligence, 
in ability, to comprehend the end and spirit of self govern- 
ment, if they make merchandise of their positions, then 
the world says : '^ Death is written on the forehead of the 
Republic, tiie people are corrupted, their virtue deep buried 
— there is no stability in a democratic Republic." Des- 
potism chuckles, and grief-stricken millions of human 
hearts are sorrowed with the woeful tale that the parent 
of democracy — their bright beacon light — is no more; is 
lost in the deep blackness of a self-created hell, the victim 
of a destiny self-wrought and therefore most betitting. 
Such being the case, how much it behooves us to know 
ourselves and our duties. Rulers are servants ; it belongs 
to us to hold them to a stern and rigid accountability. 
Persons occupying official position perform their duties 
under oath. lie who uses that official position to enrich 
himself or, to enhance any private interest, violates that 
oath, is a perjured wretch, and should be scorned by men 
as he is b\- angels. He betraj's a constituency who have 
honored him. He poisons the nation which has been his 
benefactor. Every man who revels in wealth gathered by 
political influence or position is a robber, who not only 
despoils the State, but stabs it in the heart, for public vir- 
tue, its life-blood, is poisoned. Omniscience never mani- 
fested its mercy more strikingly than when it gave to 
America, in the person and character of George Washing- 
ton, the thorough and exalted type of a citizen — a repub- 



21 

lican citizen. In telling jou what he was, I tell you like- 
wise what you ought to be. There is no civic virtue which 
his life does not happily illustrate, both in official and. 
private life. When the inquiry is made what course of 
conduct is proper under this or that circumstance, you 
will iind an answer in the life of George Washington. I 
speak of him not because I am intending to bestow on 
him words of fitting praise, but rather to quote him as an 
example of what an officer ought to be, elected by the suf- 
frages of a free people. And these are the lessons you 
will learn — garner them as maxims: Let no man be en- 
riched by the State; let no man accept favors while in 
official position, for that moment he becomes a dependent; 
let no man ever do anything of even questionable morality 
or delicacy, he can never err on the side of either; let no 
man in official position be controlled, even seemingly, by 
any disposition dictated by selfishness or greed ; let no 
man in official position forget that he holds the same as a 
sacred trust from the people, for their benetit, and when- 
ever it yields either to his advantage, or that of any indi- 
vidual, he has falsified his trust, and betrayed his country. 
Oh, if such exalted notions could once more be embalmed 
in the popular conscience ! 

GROUISID FOR HOPE — EXAMPLES. 

Fellow citizens, I despair not, they surely will ! There 
are causes for present degeneracy ; there are elements of 
virtue in reserve which, when aroused, will create a pop- 
ular opinion strong enough to enforce these wholesome 
maxims, and cause their recognition by all political par- 
ties. There is another cry of alarm we frequently hear. 
It is the cry of party. Many suppose that partisan hate 
will be the nation's assassin. Nothing is less to fear. All 
conditions must change ; the country relapse into barbar- 



22 

ism before such a possibility can occur. Our history puts 
to flight such demons. There lias not been in the cata- 
logue of nations another so utterly secure from peril, in 
this regard, as the U nited States. I shall not inquire 
into the whys and wherefores, but point to the conclusive 
fact that it has been demonstrated beyond peradventure 
in our history. No enmities, between dilierent parties, 
can endure within the limits of the Republic. When, in 
its earliest days, it vindicated its nationality — I mean not 
at its birth, but at a later date — the people abandoned 
party, held differences in abeyance, buried prejudices, and 
shouted with one voice, '' We are for our country ; let us 
conquer the common enemy." And still later, in our 
strife for perpetuity, liberty, and Union, wliat episode so 
startling, so magnificent, so godlike ? A flag dishonored ! 
A nation assailed ! The chains of partisanship melted in 
the hot tears of its people ! Treasures of money and blood 
poured into a commop offering by Republican and Demo- 
crat ! Prayers ascending to heaven that the old Union 
might not go down in the abyss of treason, from hearth- 
stones around which members of all parties gathered, 
commingling together like incense from one altar. 

Look, too, at my home, the city of New York. A few 
years ago its people were maligned and vilified, de- 
nounced as unfit for self-rule; they were groaning under 
the weight of oppressive exactions ; they were apparently 
crushed under the heels of the most unconscionable and 
corrupt oligarchy that ever wielded power; a common 
danger was recognized, in the presence of which the voice 
of the partisan was again hushed. Honesty ranged itself 
in unbroken column, gathered its recruits from the camp 
of opposite parties. Party hate, party prejudice, party 
serfdom were ignored and discarded, and the result was 
an oligarchy crushed — a city disenthralled. So, too, in 



N 



23 

our own State, as the overthrow of the canal ring attests. 
And so it will ever be. Partisan oppressions frequently 
do exist, but they cannot survive. American soil is not 
adapted to their growth. The American people have 
given conclusive proof that they are too intelligent and 
conscientious to be misled, hoodwinked, or enticed by de- 
signing politicians. They liave no reverence for parry, as 
such; they regard it only as an agency through which 
certain purposes are subserved. When it fails to subserve 
such purposes it fails to command their homage. They 
discriminate between what is good and bad in a system. 
They despise and loathe wholesale denunciation. They 
are firm, but charitable, yielding to others what they 
themselves insist upon — tolerant of all differences. When- 
ever a new exigency arises they forai new combinations 
to meet it. Such is the average American. He has vin- 
dicated his title to sovereignty, despite abominations of 
leadership, mistaken policies and untoward events. He 
has shown himself no Falinurus, tottering in sleep at the 
critical moment, but a watchful, eager pilot, ever on the 
lookout for peril. 

Ladies and gentlemen, you have now listened to an ex- 
position of the American theory of government, and also 
had pointed out to you the peculiar perils to which it is 
exposed. All our foes are within — none are open. There 
is no element that assails the national life in daylight. 
There are individuals in the country who croak about 
the times, who prefer a monarchical form of government 
to the republican system, complaining sometimes of one 
thing and sometimes of another, but they serve only to 
amuse, not to affright. The masses in this country are 
right, their only crime is inattention. They content them- 
selves, when the nation is in repose, with business pur- 
suits, and yield to the few the duty of managing rhe State. 



24 

Hence dcniagogisni, corruption, and infamy for the Re- 
public. If the citizens of the United States had been as 
devoted to the State as to their business and their house- 
holds, politicians would have never acquired an ascen- 
dency overwhelming enough to influence the hearts of 
thirty millions of people, and thrust them, ere they were 
awakened from their fatal lethargy, into an interminable 
ocean of blood and death. Vice is an active element that 
never sleeps; it may appear sluggish at times, but only 
because veiled for o-reater security. To hold it in check, 
virtue must be no less active. If truth, content with 
its triumphs, becomes quiet, error, encouraged, stalks 
haughtily. 

The battle of progress rages without cessation. Hu- 
manity, on the whole, is victor. Each civilization is 
superior to its predecessor. One of its grandest battle- 
iields, one of the theaters of its most sublime achieve- 
ments, has been the American continent, where it has 
reveled in carnage ; many of its living heroes are here to- 
day, true and brave men, who, when treason muttered its 
curses and launched its dart at the national life, marched, 
like Ajax, the bravest of Grecian warriors, in the far 
front ; with the prayer "God speed the right!" ascending 
from their hearts, and the vow echoing from their lip"s 
that, let what will betide, the An;ierican Republic will 
not perish, self-government shall not be deep buried 'neath 
slavery and black-hearted treason, and made good their 
vows by the prostration of armed rebellion, the salvation 
of the Republic, and the dispensation of liberty to every 
man, woman, and child within its widespread borders. 

Fellow citizens, let us all, no matter about the past, to- 
day consecrate ourselves anew, vowing, by the memories 
of living and slain heroes, that we will devote ourselves 
and our lives to the sacred cause of country. If Rome, 



25 

the pre}' to vice and slave of a pagan system, could find a 
sou ready to step iu the yawning earth to appease the 
wrath of the gods, and save her ; if Sparta, cold and 
rigid iu her simple barbaric grandeur, could command the 
homage of her sous ; if nations the most tyrannic can 
boast the idolatry of their subjects, what measure of love, 
what warmth of devotion, what sense of responsibility 
should be the ingredients of citizenship in a free country 
like ours — a grand continental Republic, supported by 
the enduring columns of equality and justice — where a 
spirit so cosmopolitan prevails that, despite the barriers 
erected by prejudice and supported by party demagog- 
ism, it invites and belts in its embrace all peoples of 
every kindred and tongue and religious faith, sweeping 
away the dusty statutes of the ages, and proclaiming, 
with words which awaken echoes in earth's remotest cor- 
ners, the universal supremacy of Q-od, the universal 
brotherhood of man. 

Ladies and gentlemen, in peace we are yet in war ; moral 
forces combat each other. Notwithstanding the reserve 
force of virtue and morality in the country, public opinion 
is debauched, courts prostituted, vice respectable, corrup- 
tion defiant, bad men bold, and the press measurably par- 
takes of the corrupt flavor of the times. Your prayers and 
labors are needed as much to-day as when the nation was 
seething and tossino- iu the tempest of marderous battle. 
Plead with your voices for purity, for peace, and so will 
the banners of Mercy and Justice, now trampled down, 
be lifted up. ' Oh ! how dignified, how sublime our destiny, 
if we do not despise our opportunities! Oh! how inde- 
scribably infamous the crime, how deep-dyed our guilt, if, 
with all our appliances of civilization, with all the exam- 
ples of self-sacrifice and love for the flag, with all the les- 
sous of experience teaching the efficiency of free institu- 



26 . 

tions, with all the terrible costs of the nation's life, syl- 
labled in saddened notes bj- maimed limbs, desolated house- 
holds, cemeteries of the slain, we should, by cold neglect 
or positive act of hostility, become the foul assassins of 
this Republic. 

Ladies and gentlemen, let us, in tliat firm confidence 
which one always feels when he understands his duty and 
is conscious of strength enough to perform it, dismiss all 
apprehensions. Let us believe that this Republic will 
have a destiny no less exceptional than its history, that it 
will henceforth be guided by a sagacious statesmanship, 
which shall comprehend the only just end of government, 
the spirit with which its functions should be exercised, 
and its just accountability to the people. This must be 
done, virtue must assert its supremacy, public opinion 
must be modified, purified wholly, the temper of the times 
must undergo change, the public judgment must become 
80 stern, so positive, that those who violate law and jus- 
tice will feel the punishment of their crimes in their own 
breasts. 

Ladies and gentlemen, may this day's services serve to 
render perennial your fondness for the Republic ; to keep 
alive the memory of the soldiers who hesitated not to 
make offering of their hearts' blood for a nation they 
idolized. 

All hail, then, to a holier futurity, to household sane- 
tit}^, the parent of national virtue, to a Republic — a 
Union — a Union with liberty made perpetual ! 



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